She killed her 4-year-old girl. Can she ever be considered sane?
By Shaila Dewan, New York Times Service Sixteen years ago, Marci Webber killed her 4-year-old daughter, Maggie, in the midst of a psychotic episode, then cut her own wrists. When Webber’s eldest daughter, then 18, found them in the bathroom, Webber told her, “Shhh, don’t wake the baby.” She has been institutionalized in Illinois ever since, but for over a decade she has argued that she no longer needs inpatient care. In November, a judge will decide whether she can go free. Webber’s trial, on the other hand, took one day and had one witness, a forensic psychologist. She chose not to have a jury. A judge in DuPage County, the suburban county outside Chicago where the killing occurred, found her not guilty by reason of insanity. The result has been years of debate and hearings over the role of medications and whether she is stable enough to live outside of a mental health facility. As…